Ansible-for-i BETA version

Ansible is a radically simple IT automation system. It handles configuration management, application deployment, cloud provisioning, ad-hoc task execution, network automation, and multi-node orchestration. Ansible makes complex changes like zero-downtime rolling updates with load balancers easy.

IBM i systems can be managed nodes of Ansible. This project is to enrich IBM i support on Ansible, like providing more IBM i modules and examples to manage IBM i nodes.

Getting Started Articles:

You may want to check out below articles first if you are new to Ansible for IBM i support.
https://developer.ibm.com/linuxonpower/2020/05/01/ansible-automation-for-ibm-power-systems/
https://ibm.github.io/cloud-i-blog/

Dependencies on IBM i node:

1. 5733SC1 Base and Option 1
2. 5770DG1
3. Python
4. python itoolkit
5. python ibm_db

Note: 1) Use yum to install 3, 4, 5. About how to install yum on IBM i, refer to examples/ibmi/playbooks/ibmi-install-yum.yml. 2) Both python 2 and python 3 are supported. The python which is used by Ansible depends on value of ansible_python_interpreter in the inventory file. For example, ansible_python_interpreter = "/QOpensys/pkgs/bin/python2" or ansible_python_interpreter = "/QOpensys/pkgs/bin/python3"

How to enable ansible server and IBM i nodes?

1. Install ansible server. For example, run "yum install ansible" on a supported platform.
2. Clone this repository to your Ansible server.
3. Create your inventory file under examples/ibmi, an example can be found here "examples/ibmi/hosts_ibmi.ini"
4. Run "ansible-playbook -i examples/ibmi/your_inventory_file examples/ibmi/playbooks/enable-ansible-for-i/setup.yml"
   

Manage IBM i nodes by Ansible Tower?

1. Create your repository to fork this repository.
2. Create your playbook in the root directory, for example, the same directory of ibmi-try-tower-structure.yml
3. Create Project in Ansible Tower to point to your repository.
4. Create job template to run your own playbook

Note, you can create new pull request to merge the changes in this repository into yours.

Directory structure:

├── action_plugins - Only applicable to Ansible tower. In where copies of lib/ansible/plugins/action/ are kept.
├── examples - Ansible playbook examples.
├── lib - Source code of IBM i new modules and plugins. Copy the folder to the module path on ansible server.
├── library - Only applicable to Ansible tower. In where copies of lib/ansible/modules/ibmi/ are kept. 
├── module_utils - Only applicable to Ansible tower. In where copies of lib/ansible/module_utils/ are kept.  
├── test - Integration test code of IBM i new modules and plugins.
├── ibmi_try_tower_structure.yml. Only applicable to Ansible tower. 

IBM i Module Index:

ibmi_at	Schedule a batch job on a remote IBMi node.
ibmi_cl_command	Executes a CL command.
ibmi_copy	Copy a save file from local to a remote IBMi node.
ibmi_display_subsystem	Display all currently active subsystems or currently active jobs in a subsystem.
ibmi_end_subsystem	End a subsystem.
ibmi_fetch	Fetch objects or a library from a remote IBMi node and store on local.
ibmi_install_product_from_savf	Install the the licensed program(product) from a save file.
ibmi_lib_restore	Restore one library on a remote IBMi node.
ibmi_lib_save	Save one libary on a remote IBMi node.
ibmi_object_authority	Grant, Revoke and Display the Object Authority.
ibmi_object_restore	Restore one or more objects on a remote IBMi node.
ibmi_object_save	Save one or more objects on a remote IBMi node.
ibmi_reboot	Reboot IBMi machine.
ibmi_save_product_to_savf	Save the the licensed program(product) to a save file.
ibmi_script	Execute a local cl/sql script file on a remote ibm i node.
ibmi_script_execute	Execute a cl/sql script file on a remote ibm i node.
ibmi_sql_execute	Executes a SQL non-DQL(Data Query Language) statement.
ibmi_sql_query	Executes a SQL DQL(Data Query Language) statement.
ibmi_start_subsystem	Start a subsystem.
ibmi_sync	Synchronize a save file from current ibm i node A to another ibm i node B.
ibmi_synchronize	Synchronize a save file from ibm i node A to another ibm i node B.
ibmi_uninstall_product	Delete the objects that make up the licensed program(product).
ibmi_user_and_group	Create, Change and Display a user(or group) profile.
ibmi_device_vary	Vary on or off target device on a remote IBMi node
ibmi_host_server_service	Manage host server on a remote IBMi node
ibmi_tcp_server_service	Manage tcp server on a remote IBMi node
ibmi_iasp	Control IASP on target IBMi node
ibmi_message	Search message on a remote IBMi node
ibmi_fix	Load from save file, apply, remove or query PTF(s).
ibmi_fix_imgclg	Install fixes from virtual image.
ibmi_job	Returns job information per user request.
ibmi_object_find	Find specific IBM i object(s).
ibmi_submit_job	Submit an IBM i job.
ibmi_tcp_interface	Manage IBM i tcp interface. You can add, remove, start, end or query a tcp interface.

License:

GNU General Public License v3.0 or later.